miller



A. G. MILLER.

fmt EscAPE.- APPLICATION FILED APR. I?, 1911-` RENEWED AUG- 23. 19H3.

ATTORNEY Patented MaylvS, 1919.

MASA e. MILLER, or BRISTOL, INDIANA.

FIRE-ESCAPE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 13, 1919.

Application led April 17, 1317, Serial No. 162,684. Renewed August28,1918.` Serial No. 251,839.

To all whom it may concern."

Be it known that I, AMASA G. MILLER, a citizen o-f thev United States,residing at Bristol, in the county of Elkhart and State of Indiana, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Fire-Escapes, of whichthe following is a' specification.

This invention relates to an improved fireescape of the drum type andthe principal object of the invention is to provide a fireescape havingan improved type of housing for the cable drum and rewind spring and tofurther provide a fire-escape of the type specified in which the speedof unwinding of the cable may be controlled through the medium of abrake carried by one of the handles of the drum.

Another object of the invention is to provide a fire-escape in whichmotion will be transmitted from the shaft as the cable unwinds to therewind spring through the medium of gears in the spring housing.

Another object of the invention is to so construct this fire-escape thatit may be sus-- pended either from the roof of a building or from aledge or other exterior projection or if so desired from within thebuilding with the cable extending through the window.

`This invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein z-Figure 1 is a view in elevation showing the fire-escape suspended fromwithin the building and extending out through one of the windows.

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1 showing` the fire-escape suspendedfrom the roof of the building.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged view showing the improved fire-escape inlongitudinal section with the anchor shown in elevation.

Fig. if is a sectional view through the spring housing taken along theline 4 4 of Fig. 3.

The cable 10 carries an anchor 11 at its free end, the arms 12 of whichterminate in sharp penetrating points which Ipermit the anchor to obtaina firm grip upon a roof or other surface with which the anchor may beengaged when used as shown in Fig. 2. These arms are further` ofsufficient length to permit the anchor to engage a beam or other objectwithin a building when the anchor is to be engaged on a support withinthe room and the cable passed out of the window. This anchor will be ofsufficient strength to withstand the strain whenthe lire-escape is inuse.

This cable 10 is woundupon vthe hollow shaft or drum 13 within the drumhousing 14 and between the disks 15, the drum housing having an inletopeningl extending longitudinally in its upper end portion so that thecable may pass into and out of the drum housing and wind longitudinallyupon the drum. The innerend of this cable is connected with the drum orhollow shaft by the fasteners 16 thus preventing the danger of the cablebecoming detached from the drum. The hollow shaft or drum 13 extendsthrough the spring housing indicated in general by the numeral 17 andthrough the handles 18, a securing pin 19 being passed through thehollow shaft 13 to hold the shaft in place and a brake lever 2O beingpivotally mounted in an opening 21 formed in one of the handles so thatthis brake lever may be grasped and pressed against the shaft to controlthe speed of rotation of this shaft. These handles may be securedrigidly to the arms 22 of the yoke 2.3, the arms of the yoke beingprovided with bearings 24 through which the hollow shaft passes as shownin Fig. 3.

Within the spring housing7 which housing is formed of two sections 25and 26, there is provided a spring 27 having its outer end secured tothe side wall of the' section 25 and having its inner end secured to thehub 28 of the gear 29 which gear is rotatable upon the hollow lshaft 13.A double gear is rotatably mounted in the spring housing upon the pivotpin or stub shaft 30 and has its relatively small head 31 meshing withthe gear 29 and its relatively large head or end portion 32 meshing withthe gear 33 which gear 33 is keyed to the shaft i 13 as shown at34c. Itwill thus be seen that when the cable is drawn outwardly to ro tate theshaft 13, the gear 33 constituting a driving gear will be rotated androtary motion will be transmitted through the double gear to the looseor driven gear 28 with which-the inner end of the spring 27 isconnected.

When in use, the fire-escape will be put in place either as shown inFig. 1 or shown in Fig. 2 and the person who desires to descend from theupper portion of the building will grasp the handles 18 and hang fromthe device. The weight of the person will cause the cables to unwind.from between the disks and in doing s0 this will rotate the shaft 13which through the medium of the gears will wind the spring 27. Ifthedescent 1toward the ground is too rapid, the brake lever 20 will bepressed thus b-ringing the brake into engagement with the rotating shaft13 and causing fthe shaftjl to rotate at a 4lower rate of speed. Bymeans of this brake lever, the speed at which the shaft rotates can thus`be easily controlled and the person can descend to the ground at thedesired rate of speed. Therefore this fire-escape does not haveto beadjusted according to the weight of the person who is to descend to theground. After the person has descended to the ground, the handles 18will be released and i the spring will yunwind thus rotating the shaft13 and winding the cable upon the shaft between the disks as shown inFig. 3. Therefore the device will be drawn .upwardly so that it canagain be used.

I have thus provided a fire-escape by which a person can safely descendto the ground from a window and whlch 1s so constructed Athata'fteraperson has reached the ground, this device of itself will return to theupper portion of the building.

`VVhat is claimed is A yfireescape comprising a housing, .a shaft.extending through the housing, handles loose upon the shaft uponopposite sides of the housing, one of the handles yhaving a slot formedtherein, a brake pivotally mounted in the slot and having an inner armfor engaging the shaft and an outer actuating arm, and a line woundabout the shaft and extending out of the housing.

In testimony whereof I aX my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

AMASA G. MILLER.

Witnesses:

HARVEY WV. L. KANTZ, AUGUSTUS ALLEN.

Copies of .this patent may be obtained for five cents each, byaddressing the Commissioner ofk Patents, Washington, D. C.

